General Blu-ray news and discussion
12-12-06 | 09:41 PM
#277
Just FYI. If you buy the Unrated version of Talladega Nights on BD, you may notice the disc cover looks like the PS3 promo disc. But after putting the disc in, it is the Unrated version with all the features. Kinda lazy that they didn't correct the disc cover.
12-14-06 | 02:26 AM
#278
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From: Detroit
Originally Posted by Suprmallet
Porno, what's the word on that Panny?
Sorry had 2 photo jobs pop up and have been super busy this last week. Well the current news on the Panny is this. My sister is really good freinds with one of the general managers from ABC Warehouse which is the place my Fiance got the Gift Cetificate from for the BD player. The certificate did say that no exchanges for different products were allowed but my Sisters friend hooked us up and gave us full credit in the store instead of the player so we took the credit & I am once again back out of the BD game, lol.
We ended up getting the Yamaha YSP-800 Digital Sound Projector, the new Apple 80 Gig iPod (for the woman) and I got the new Maxtor 1 Terrabyte HD for my Apple and it ended up costing us 147 bucks. We were thrilled with what we were able to get and I think we made the right decision. I am just not into supporting both formats and the woman agrees 100%. I vowed to stick with HD-DVD after the horrendous time I had with BD when they first launched and I am sticking to that vow, At least for now. I personally never expected any of the BD studios to come over to HD-DVD until the PS3 has had its chance to do what Sony has said it will do. If next Christmas passes and still there is no word on any defections to HD-DVD and BD gets some of the killer movies from thier studios out on the market then I will probably give in and finally get another player.
On a side note that Digital Sound Projector is simply stunning. Its absolutly mind bogling how it can literally throw sound around the room and make it sound like its coming from somewhere else. It really does sound like we have a multi speaker setup now in our bedroom from that one speaker. Plus it looks awsome with the grill off, its just loaded with 21 drivers. Looks awsome :-). If anyone has ever thought about getting one of these I highly recommend it. They work magic with sound.
PS..
12-14-06 | 07:48 AM
#279
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From: NY NY
Originally Posted by PornoStar
If next Christmas passes and still there is no word on any defections to HD-DVD and BD gets some of the killer movies from thier studios out on the market then I will probably give in and finally get another player.
Same here.
Originally Posted by PornoStar
If anyone has ever thought about getting one of these I highly recommend it. They work magic with sound.
12-14-06 | 10:21 PM
#280
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From: Detroit
Originally Posted by Rusty James
Same here.Would you advise getting a small subwoofer to go with it, or does it produce enough bass on its own own for a small room?
I have been completly satisfied with just the individual speaker. It has great bass to it as it has 2 woofers on it. The thing is a design miracle, it really is. we popped in Batman Begins and Training Day and it sounded awsome. 1000 times better than what we had before and the speaker really does look awsome. even my fiance who isnt really interested in alot of tech stuff commented how cool the thing looks with the grill off. Its a little pricey at around 750 bucks but if you willing to spend the cash and you have a room that watch movies in like your bedroom that you just dont want to have a bunch of speakers all over the place then get this sucker. We couldnt believe how it made sounds appear to come from different areas in the room. There were times I would have bet money that speakers were behind us and to the sides of us. I guess thats why they call it a sound projector and not just a speaker :-)
PS..
12-17-06 | 07:47 PM
#282
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From: Detroit
Originally Posted by ianholm
If you get the Sony BD player at Best Buy you get to pick two BD's for free. You can probably get the Mission Impossible box set as one of those.
PS...
12-19-06 | 09:09 AM
#283
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From: Dallas, TX
12-20-06 | 09:32 AM
#284
Follow up from the Digital Bits on the future day/date Warner announcement I posted before. Looking forward to the catch-up titles (particularly Batman Begins). Too bad I just ordered Wicker Man SD DVD 
We've also finally heard back from Warner per our high-def inquiry from early last week. We've spoken today with Warner Home Video's VP of HD Media Development, Dan Silverberg, about the studio's support of both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats moving forward. Here's what he had to say:
"WHV's objective is to have triple day and date releases for all new theatrical titles on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. We began this with The Lake House and more recently Superman Returns and Ant Bully. As for our catalog titles, we would like to have simultaneous HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. Again, this is something we have done recently with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story, and will be doing with Scooby-Doo and Alexander: The Director's Cut, as well as recent DVD releases coming soon to high def like Wickerman and Beerfest, both being the unrated versions.
We also plan to make every effort to "catch-up" the 2006 titles currently only out on HD DVD with the Blu-ray versions in 2007. There are two reasons that the discrepancy exists. One has to do with the interactivity layer for BD with respect to picture-in-picture functionality. Some of our titles like Batman Begins and V for Vendetta have extensive interactive experiences and we don't want the Blu-ray consumer to have a "lesser" experience. We expect that this enhanced interactivity will be ready on the Blu-ray side soon. The other reason had to do with length of movies and the availability of 50 GB discs. That situation has already improved, as the releases of Unforgiven, Last Samurai and Goodfellas (1/16) show. We are also working on Enter the Dragon and a few others for early 2007 Blu-ray release as part of that "catching up" plan."
Silverberg also informed me that Warner will be confirming continued support of both high-def formats at CES early next month, and expects to announce "some titles of interest" at the show (as will a number of the other high-def supporting studios, as we reported here at The Bits last week).
"WHV's objective is to have triple day and date releases for all new theatrical titles on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. We began this with The Lake House and more recently Superman Returns and Ant Bully. As for our catalog titles, we would like to have simultaneous HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. Again, this is something we have done recently with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story, and will be doing with Scooby-Doo and Alexander: The Director's Cut, as well as recent DVD releases coming soon to high def like Wickerman and Beerfest, both being the unrated versions.
We also plan to make every effort to "catch-up" the 2006 titles currently only out on HD DVD with the Blu-ray versions in 2007. There are two reasons that the discrepancy exists. One has to do with the interactivity layer for BD with respect to picture-in-picture functionality. Some of our titles like Batman Begins and V for Vendetta have extensive interactive experiences and we don't want the Blu-ray consumer to have a "lesser" experience. We expect that this enhanced interactivity will be ready on the Blu-ray side soon. The other reason had to do with length of movies and the availability of 50 GB discs. That situation has already improved, as the releases of Unforgiven, Last Samurai and Goodfellas (1/16) show. We are also working on Enter the Dragon and a few others for early 2007 Blu-ray release as part of that "catching up" plan."
Silverberg also informed me that Warner will be confirming continued support of both high-def formats at CES early next month, and expects to announce "some titles of interest" at the show (as will a number of the other high-def supporting studios, as we reported here at The Bits last week).
12-20-06 | 12:03 PM
#285
DVD Talk Godfather
I'm a bit confused on the second part of Silverberg's response.
Why does Warner need 50GB for the same HD DVD release? Are they not using the same VC1 encode? Are they putting on MPEG uncompressed audio? They're certainly not adding more features and the code for the interactivity can't possible be gigs more.
I guess the only logical conclusion is that they maxed out the HD DVD transfers at 30GB and couldn't accomodate anything at 25 GB.
So, my follow up question is this: do you guys have any idea if Warner/Paramount will be doing 50GB-specific releases for Blu-Ray? Will they encode movies twice, or move over features, etc.? If they are bit-for-bit the same, except for the interactivity, will the titles basically be the exact same thing on both systems?
Why does Warner need 50GB for the same HD DVD release? Are they not using the same VC1 encode? Are they putting on MPEG uncompressed audio? They're certainly not adding more features and the code for the interactivity can't possible be gigs more.
I guess the only logical conclusion is that they maxed out the HD DVD transfers at 30GB and couldn't accomodate anything at 25 GB.
So, my follow up question is this: do you guys have any idea if Warner/Paramount will be doing 50GB-specific releases for Blu-Ray? Will they encode movies twice, or move over features, etc.? If they are bit-for-bit the same, except for the interactivity, will the titles basically be the exact same thing on both systems?
12-20-06 | 12:11 PM
#286
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From: Dallas, TX
Originally Posted by The Bus
I guess the only logical conclusion is that they maxed out the HD DVD transfers at 30GB and couldn't accomodate anything at 25 GB.
So, my follow up question is this: do you guys have any idea if Warner/Paramount will be doing 50GB-specific releases for Blu-Ray? Will they encode movies twice, or move over features, etc.? If they are bit-for-bit the same, except for the interactivity, will the titles basically be the exact same thing on both systems?
So, my follow up question is this: do you guys have any idea if Warner/Paramount will be doing 50GB-specific releases for Blu-Ray? Will they encode movies twice, or move over features, etc.? If they are bit-for-bit the same, except for the interactivity, will the titles basically be the exact same thing on both systems?
12-22-06 | 01:42 PM
#287
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From: In the Universe.
blu-ray movies as low as $6 each AR/GCO at Buy.com
I think you guys might like this, courtesy of Fatwallet's poohead
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/686788/
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/686788/
12-22-06 | 01:54 PM
#288
Thanks for the link. Don't have a PS3 though
Sharp Now Producing Blue Laser Diodes
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp. (6753.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) said on Tuesday it has started the commercial production of blue laser diodes, taking aim at a market with strong growth potential.
Sharp in November began volume output of blue laser diodes, used to read and write data on high-definition optical discs, at 150,000 units a month at its existing plant in western Japan, Sharp spokesman Hiroshi Takenami said.
The diodes can be used in DVD players based on the Blu-ray format, championed by Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, NEWS , Research), as well as competing HD DVD technology, promoted by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T: Quote, NEWS , Research).
Sharp, which is entering the market dominated by Sony and unlisted Nichia Corp, plans to bring the monthly capacity to 500,000 units by the end of 2007, spending several billion yen.
Takenami declined to comment on Sharp's sales target, but the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said the Osaka-based company aims for annual blue laser diode sales of about 15 billion yen ($127.2 million) at the initial stage.
Shares in Sharp, which forecast group revenues of 3 trillion yen for the year to March, were down 0.2 percent at 2,080 yen in the early afternoon, roughly in line with the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index (.IELEC.T: Quote, NEWS , Research).
Sharp Now Producing Blue Laser Diodes
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp. (6753.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) said on Tuesday it has started the commercial production of blue laser diodes, taking aim at a market with strong growth potential.
Sharp in November began volume output of blue laser diodes, used to read and write data on high-definition optical discs, at 150,000 units a month at its existing plant in western Japan, Sharp spokesman Hiroshi Takenami said.
The diodes can be used in DVD players based on the Blu-ray format, championed by Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, NEWS , Research), as well as competing HD DVD technology, promoted by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T: Quote, NEWS , Research).
Sharp, which is entering the market dominated by Sony and unlisted Nichia Corp, plans to bring the monthly capacity to 500,000 units by the end of 2007, spending several billion yen.
Takenami declined to comment on Sharp's sales target, but the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said the Osaka-based company aims for annual blue laser diode sales of about 15 billion yen ($127.2 million) at the initial stage.
Shares in Sharp, which forecast group revenues of 3 trillion yen for the year to March, were down 0.2 percent at 2,080 yen in the early afternoon, roughly in line with the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index (.IELEC.T: Quote, NEWS , Research).
12-26-06 | 07:31 PM
#290
Word is The Descent may have playback issues with the Sony player. I have the Sammy and it played fine. Others are reporting on AVS that they can't get the disc to load. I will admit, this is definitely the slowest loading BD disc. Takes about a minute to get to the menu screen. Being LionsGate's first BD-50 and having the interactive features may be the reason for the slow load times/playback problems.
12-26-06 | 09:23 PM
#291
My preorders haven't even shipped for this week yet, because DVDEmpire is waiting for Google Checkout to send their charge verification (which they put on my card on the 21st). Can't even cancel it now and pick it up at Best Buy. Definitely not worth the $10 savings for the hassle and lack of order control. I really wanted to check out The Descent and now I may not even get it before next week.
12-26-06 | 09:33 PM
#292
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From: Grazing in a field somewhere...
Originally Posted by matome
My preorders haven't even shipped for this week yet, because DVDEmpire is waiting for Google Checkout to send their charge verification (which they put on my card on the 21st). Can't even cancel it now and pick it up at Best Buy. Definitely not worth the $10 savings for the hassle and lack of order control. I really wanted to check out The Descent and now I may not even get it before next week.
12-27-06 | 02:42 PM
#293
Well, I was able to cancel the Google Checkout order (they never sent the charge verification yet) with DVDEmpire via their chat system (I'm hoping the refund will show up), so I'm gonna try and pick up The Descent at Best Buy tonight.
Not much of a renter at all, though I did try the free trial Netflix and Blockbuster offers a couple of years ago. They seemed to ship catalog titles pretty fast, but new release availability was pretty crappy and I doubt I would be able to stand the wait.
Not much of a renter at all, though I did try the free trial Netflix and Blockbuster offers a couple of years ago. They seemed to ship catalog titles pretty fast, but new release availability was pretty crappy and I doubt I would be able to stand the wait.
12-27-06 | 07:04 PM
#294
Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema
Word is The Descent may have playback issues with the Sony player. I have the Sammy and it played fine. Others are reporting on AVS that they can't get the disc to load. I will admit, this is definitely the slowest loading BD disc. Takes about a minute to get to the menu screen. Being LionsGate's first BD-50 and having the interactive features may be the reason for the slow load times/playback problems.
12-28-06 | 11:50 AM
#295
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Phillips and Samsung have new firmware updates for their players:
Philips
Samsung
Still looking for The Descent locally. I really wanted to get this, but I was worried about ship times from online retailers for the Holidays. Looks like I may miss out on having this for the weekend, unless I spring for Next Day now
Philips
Samsung
Still looking for The Descent locally. I really wanted to get this, but I was worried about ship times from online retailers for the Holidays. Looks like I may miss out on having this for the weekend, unless I spring for Next Day now
12-30-06 | 02:53 AM
#296
Looking at what Sigma has been working on over on AVS and I wouldn't be surprised if we see a mockup "fully featured" 2nd Gen Blu-Ray player show up at CES, or shortly after.
Sigma Designs PDF
Sigma Designs PDF
12-30-06 | 01:42 PM
#297
Suspended
Originally Posted by ianholm
Phillips and Samsung have new firmware updates for their players:
Philips
Samsung
Still looking for The Descent locally. I really wanted to get this, but I was worried about ship times from online retailers for the Holidays. Looks like I may miss out on having this for the weekend, unless I spring for Next Day now
Philips
Samsung
Still looking for The Descent locally. I really wanted to get this, but I was worried about ship times from online retailers for the Holidays. Looks like I may miss out on having this for the weekend, unless I spring for Next Day now
12-30-06 | 02:21 PM
#298
I was in Walmart this morning and they had The Descent for $24.99. They also received in 1 copy of Saw. I scanned the barcode and it rang up $16.99. I was surprised to see a high-def title regularly priced under $20.
12-30-06 | 06:43 PM
#300
Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
Have you checked Blockbuster? Seriously. They carry more BR/HD titles that my local Best Buy! Same prices as well.